In the quiet of the University of Maine’s Wallace Pool one afternoon, Martin Fitch sat in the spectator stands, bent over a book.

That’s where one can usually find Fitch these days, he says, which is a big change from his high school days when he admits to being a bit lackadaisical about swimming.

There are other things different about Fitch now that he’s a sophomore swimming for UMaine. For one thing, this isn’t the Fitch who entered Bangor High standing shorter than five feet and weighing less than 100 pounds and who was, he admits, not exactly one of Bangor’s top swimmers early in his high school career.

But Fitch has grown, literally and figuratively, into one of the top Black Bear swimmers. He is one of coach Jeff Wren’s hopes to place at the America East Championship meet, which runs Friday through Sunday at University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Fitch will swim the 400-yard individual medley, which this year has been his focus, along with the 200 IM and either the 200 backstroke or 200 breaststroke. That’s another big change for a swimmer who was better known as a 200 and 500 free competitor at Bangor. Fitch’s season-best 400 IM time of 4 minutes, 22.29 seconds ranks seventh in America East.

His big leap, both physically and athletically, is a function of several things, mostly nature and hard work.

“I would have to say I’m a late bloomer and I’ve never taken swimming as seriously as I’ve taken it here,” Fitch said. “At Bangor, there was no competition for our team. If I didn’t swim as well as I should have it wasn’t a big deal. But here, every point matters. We have won and lost meets by one or two points. And on the college level it’s more intense. I tend to take it a lot more seriously.”

Fitch’s time at Bangor High coincided with an era in which the Rams blew out the competition, broke state and school records, and won five straight Class A state titles.

Fitch arrived at Bangor a short, skinny kid who looked even younger than his age.

“I used to lie about my weight because when I told kids I was 98 pounds they always wanted to pick me up,” he said with a laugh. “I used to tell people I was 115. I was so little, I would come up to kids’ chests.”

Fitch figures he hit his growth spurt in his last two years at Bangor, and has grown into a 5-11, 155-pounder.

His physical changes have altered the way he approaches swimming.

“When I was 100 pounds, it was nothing to pull that through the water, but now I’ve got another 50-60 pounds,” he said. “It’s a very different feeling. At that [old] weight I couldn’t have gone much faster, but now I’m trying to take off.”

As a high-schooler Fitch showed some potential in the IM events – he was third in the 200 IM at the 2002 Class A state meet – but had more success in the distance free events. He was fifth at states in both the 200 and 500 freestyle races as a junior.

But as a freshman at UMaine Fitch came to enjoy the IM. His distance training helped with his endurance, and he’s now thrown himself into working on stroke technique. The 400 IM is four 25-yard lengths each of the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.

Fitch, who was named the team’s Most Valuable Swimmer last year, showed off his versatility in the 2004 America East Championship meet, finishing fifth in the 400 IM, 13th in the 500 free and 11th in the 200 back.

He was the only Maine swimmer to try every event in competition last year.

“I wasn’t prepared for how versatile he was going to be,” Wren said. “I knew him for his freestyle times but he’s really concentrated in other areas. That’s been a very pleasant surprise.”

One of the things Fitch sees in his daily trips to Wallace Pool is a board displaying all the UMaine and Wallace pool records. The oldest school record? Don Winant’s 4:08.66 in the 400 IM, set in 1970.

Fitch never set any records while at Bangor. So getting one at Maine would mean even more to him, and breaking Winant’s IM mark is his ultimate goal.

“At Bangor I swam with all these child prodigies who set all these records,” he said. “I was a decent swimmer but I wasn’t going to set any records. Here, I’m advancing, I am getting bigger, I am getting better and I’m not leveling off. I just keep getting faster, which is awesome.”